Microelectronic capacitors are typically formed by patterning a conductive region on a ceramic substrate to define a bottom electrode, depositing a thin layer of a dielectric material over the bottom electrode to form the dielectric for the microelectronic capacitor, and then forming a second electrode over the dielectric, patterned to form the microelectronic capacitor, using a second conductive region above the dielectric material. In this way, microelectronic capacitors store electric charge, and since work must be done to charge the microelectronic capacitor, the microelectronic capacitor will also store electric potential energy. If one considers an example isolated metallic sphere of radius R, any electric charge stored on this sphere, call it Q, can be articulated as a potential:
  V  =                              1                                                  4            ⁢            π            ⁢                                                  ⁢                          ɛ              0                                            ⁢                            Q                                      R                    such that the amount of charge stored on the sphere is directly proportional to the potential (V). This proportionality exists for any conductor of any shape or size. Capacitance (C) of this single conductor is large if the conductor is capable of storing a large amount of charge at a low potential, so that the relation:
  Q  =            CV      ⁢                          ⁢      becomes      ⁢                          ⁢      C        =                                        Q                                                V                              =                                                  Q                                                                                                                              1                                      Q                                                                                            4                  ⁢                  π                                ∈                0                                                    R                                      =                  4          ⁢          π          ⁢                                          ⁢                      ɛ            0                    ⁢          R                    Therefore, the capacitance of the sphere increases with its radius, and many such spheres wired together in parallel creates a net capacitance that is the sum of their individual capacitances. Furthermore, capacitors store not only electric charge (Q), but also electric potential energy (U), which can be expressed roughly as:
  U  =                                          1            /            2                    ⁢                                          ⁢          Q          ⁢                                          ⁢          2                                    C            (ignoring the energy density in the dielectric layers). The electric potential energy (U) is also the total amount of work that must be performed to charge the capacitor.
What is needed is a macroelectronic circuit referred to herein as a super capacitor and method that exploits the above relationships to be used to capture and store the electric charge of lightning, whether naturally occurring or human generated, as an alternative energy source for human consumption. After determination of the total energy range generated by lightning strikes in a particular setting, an optimum radius and number of embedded parallel layers of capacitors forming the super capacitor of the present invention can be established based on the area of land, or other substrate, that is available to support the super capacitor housing of the present invention.